1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera system and a camera control method that are suitable for use in applications in which 3D (three dimensional) images are generated from the images taken by two units of cameras, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
3D camera systems have been in use in which 3D images are obtained by combining the images separately taken by two different cameras.
Referring to FIG. 15, there is shown an exemplary configuration of a related-art 3D camera system 101.
The 3D camera system 101 has two cameras 110a and 110b, control panels 111a and 111b for controlling the operation of each of the cameras 110a and 110b, and a monitor 112 on which images outputted from the cameras 110a and 110b are displayed.
A reference signal is directly entered in each of cameras 110a and 110b and each of the cameras 110a and 110b directly outputs a taken image to an external apparatus.
Referring to FIG. 16, there is shown an exemplary configuration of a related-art 3D camera system 102.
The 3D camera system 102 has camera control units 113a and 113b that are connected to cameras 110a and 110b, respectively, thereby outputting control signals to the camera 110a and 110b and outputting images received from the cameras 110a and 110b. The cameras 110a and 110b are connected to the camera control units 113a and 113b with single link digital optical transmission paths capable of transmitting video signals at a transfer rate of 1.5 Gbps, for example. The camera control units 113a and 113b are also connected to a simultaneous control apparatus 114 configured to simultaneously control the operations of the camera 110a and camera 110b. From this simultaneous control apparatus 114, the restricted functions of the cameras 110a and 110b can be simultaneously controlled. This function is originally intended to simultaneously control two or more system cameras; in this example, this function is applied to the control of the two cameras 110a and 110b. 
Referring to FIG. 17, there is shown an exemplary configuration of a related-art 3D camera system 103.
The 3D camera system 103 has a configuration in which two or more of the 3D camera systems 102 shown in FIG. 16 are operated in parallel. Simultaneous control apparatuses 114a through 114c are arranged for the different 3D camera systems 102, thereby controlling the cameras 110a and cameras 110b of each of these 3D camera systems 102.
However, the above-mentioned related-art technologies have no apparatus that is configured to simultaneously totally control the 3D cameras in one 3D camera system.
Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-77947 discloses a technology in which 3D images are obtained by adjusting an inter-image positional shift or an inter-image rotational shift caused between two or more images having a parallax.